This Saturday, the United States Border Patrol detained 15 Cuban rafters who arrived in a small boat near Key West, Florida.
Walter N. Slosar, chief of the Patrol in the Miami sector, reported on his Twitter account that the capture of the group was carried out with the support of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The 15 migrants managed to make landfall on an uninhabited island, east of Key West.
"Great coordinated effort to bring migrants safely to shore. () This is the ninth event in March in the Florida Keys," the agent said.
Less than 24 hours before, N. Slosar reported on two other groups of emigrants who were captured on the shore at two undetermined points off the coast of Florida.
The 26 rafters, after being medically examined, were placed in federal custody, concluded the military chief's report, which did not offer details about the sex, age and country of origin of the emigrants.
Last week, N. Slosar himself revealed that during the current fiscal year, which began last October 1, officials of the Border Patrol in Miami has responded to more than 60 maritime smuggling events that have made landfall in Florida.
In those little more than five months of the current fiscal year, the crews of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) have intercepted 921 Cubans at sea.
This means that the figures for 2021, when 838 Cuban migrants were detained, and those of previous years have already been exceeded: 49 in 2020, 313 in 2019 and 259 in 2018.
On Thursday the USCG announced increased patrols in the Caribbean to stop the travel of irregular immigrants by sea.
"Surface and air assets from the USCG and partner agencies are increasing patrols in the Caribbean," reports the Twitter account of the Seventh District, which guards waters from South Carolina to the Florida Keys and the Caribbean.
The agency insisted that "migration from one country to another must be done legally" and that "authorities will stop illegal travel and return people to their country of origin."
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